


Draw them into my Web

by SorceressSupreme



Series: E-sports AU [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - E-Sports, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Families of Choice, M/M, Multi, Overwatch - Freeform, all the teams are different e-sports teams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-02-08 15:02:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18625642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorceressSupreme/pseuds/SorceressSupreme
Summary: Natasha will stop at nothing to join the New York Avengers. When she joins the scrappy Strike Team Delta, she doesn't see them as anything more than a stepping stone. Another rung in her climb to become the best Overwatch player.





	1. The performance is about to begin.

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning: I don't play Overwatch but I watch a lot of pro e-sports competitions so I just decided to go for it. Let me know if there's anything I get wrong! (I tried to avoid any descriptions of real gameplay)

When Natasha exits the lobby from her match, she has a friend request and a message:

 **DELTA_hawkguy** : nice games  
**DELTA_hawkguy** : don't suppose ur looking 4 a team???  
**blckw1dw** : lol aren't you the Hanzo I just stomped into the ground? You're not seriously a pro..

And immediately blocks the other player.

She's a fairly popular streamer and knows tons of people who would troll her with a fake offer of employment. So she doesn't think the other player might actually be from Strike Team Delta, a semi-pro team that doesn't go by its 3-letter acronym like other pro teams for obvious reasons.

Until their coach shows up at her apartment a week later. Natasha almost shuts the door in his face by reflex, but her sudden recognition of the middle-aged man stops her just in time,

"Natasha Romanoff?" he asks, arching one eyebrow up, "I’m here to formally offer you a spot on my roster,"

"Oh shit," she says, realization hitting her like a truck, " _Oh shit,_ I blocked that guy on Delta…"

Phil Coulson, manager of Strike Team Delta, smiles in response.

* * *

Natasha arrives at the Delta team apartment with only a duffel bag that’s filled with a month’s worth of clothes since she's convinced she won't last longer than that on the team. For one thing, she'd beaten one of their top DPS players handily. For another thing, then she'd _blocked_ him.

"Alright, Delta, I want to introduce you to your new flex player."

Phil steps out of the way allowing Natasha to size up the rest of the team. Waiting eagerly in the team house's kitchen-slash-dining room are the rest of her new team: four men and another woman. 

"Hey," she says as a way to break the silence stretching between them as they also size her up, "I'm Natasha... Uh, I guess I'm your new flex."

"Coulson! You didn't tell us you found out who blocked Clint!" the other woman gushes, looking at her like Natasha’s her new favorite person,

"I hope she can also snipe," the black team member comments dryly, leaning towards his neighbor, "We'd only be half snipers, then,"

"This is the best 'Clint got blocked' result ever," the man bun replies, grinning at the shorter man between them,

The shorter blonde, Clint presumably, scoffs in response to the men on either side of him.

"Children, children," Coulson moves around Natasha, expertly diverting her of her bag in the process, "Where are your manners. Introduce yourselves to your new teammate while I set up her room."

"Oh! Of course! I'm so sorry, I know we can be... a lot. Anyway, I'm Wanda. I play support," she says quickly,

Wanda is young-looking and projects an almost palpable aura of excitement. She’s clearly got a penchant for red, as she’s wearing a red shawl over a red dress with a streak of red dye through her hair.

She prods the man standing to her right. He’s tall and more in shape than most pro gamers she knows. If he has a favorite color, it’s currently much less obvious than Wanda’s. He looks at Wanda sidelong, somehow managing to look both fond and exasperated at the same time,

"Oh right, ladies and minorities first, I forgot,” he gestures to Clint and then himself in turn.

Clint signs something back to him that sends the man-bun snickering and widens the smirk on the black man's face,

"Exactly," he responds, "Anyway, I'm Sam. DPS."

"He's our diversity because he plays Pharah instead of the superior snipers," Clint explains to Natasha, 

Clint is shorter than both Sam and the man bun, but nowhere near as short as the other crew-cut blonde. Which is a good distinguisher since in addition to having the same hair color and hair cut, they both have blue eyes.

All the jokes about an abundance of sniper players are really making her suspicious of how legit this team actually is, though.

"Clint", he says simply, pointing to himself, "You know me as Hawkguy."

"The Hanzo main," Natasha nods slowly, eyeing him,

"Yikes," Sam stage whispers to Clint, "Wouldn't want to be on the other side of that look,"

Clint flushes and shifts uncomfortably, shrugging stiffly, "Eh, we all use the skills god gave us."

"And you worship at the church of tilty mains," the long-haired man chuckles, "I'm Bucky, the other flex. I apologize in advance for Clint."

That gets Natasha to really look at the man bun. Most pro teams only have one flex player so she figured she'd be it for this team, so it’s a little exciting to have a flex partner. It’s a little _more_ exciting that her partner is objectively attractive. She’s a little ashamed to admit that the man bun is kind of doing it for her, but she gives herself a pass because she’s not sure you could _not_ be attracted to that hair and those eyes. 

"Oh, be more specific than that," Clint wheedles him, snapping Natasha back to reality.

She can’t afford to be distracted by pretty faces. Not on her first team, her first chance at pro play. She’d promised herself when she first got into gaming that she was going straight to the top and had no time to be waylaid by romance.

Bucky frowns, "I like snipers and it just so happens I'm better at it than most people,"

Clint bursts into full on giggles at this, leaning on Bucky to stay upright.

"Really? Two snipers? You expect me to work with two snipers?" Natasha frowns, looking at the rest of Delta, trying to think of any other team that used two (or three, if she wanted to count herself) snipers,

 _Two_ snipers. Really.

"They're fucking idiots, but it seems to work for us for whatever reason," Sam says, shrugging,

The other, skinny crew cut blonde shoots Sam a sharp glare. Actually, scratch that. The other blonde is straight up _scrawny_ in a way that has Natasha worrying about him despite not knowing him at all. And her baseline for unhealthy is _gamers_. His gaze is bright and welcoming as he turns his attention to her, though,

"I promise it works out… at least most of the time." he says after he's done glaring at Sam, "And I'm Steve. Tank and shotcaller for Delta."

"Cool." Natasha says, looking around the room awkwardly, hands twitching slightly, "So… when can we start some practice matches?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to get this posted before Endgame but... I'm kind of glad I didn't get it out earlier. Consider this my early submission to the fix-its before the more intricate ones start coming out :D


	2. Allez, montre-toi.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and the team get a feel for each other.
> 
> ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting down to business ;P
> 
> And by "business" I mean playing Overwatch.

By the time the rest of Delta has Natasha set up with her new computer and the team's private discord, Natasha is itching to get back to the familiarity of actually playing some Overwatch.

"Don't hold it against me if I whiff my ult on this new keyboard," Natasha says, pulling the mic closer to her mouth,

"Ah, now we can hear you," Steve smiles at her from around the bend of desks,

Delta's desk setup is a bit strange. Not that there's an industry standard or anything, but the circular setup where everyone can easily see each other's faces is clearly abnormal- if for no other reason than the few awkward corners where someone needs to climb over a chair or a corner to get to their rig.

Clint vaults into the chair next to Natasha's in a well-practiced motion,

"The weird desk setup?" Clint asks without preamble, "Yeah, that's my fault,"

He pops out one of his hearing aids to show her,

"Oh-" Natasha grimaces, ready to apologize for making him uncomfortable,

"They just get uncomfortable to play in so Wanda had this great idea that we could all sit like this and I can sort of see if they need to tell me something… If I remember to look away from my screen,"

"That's why they all know sign language," Natasha realizes,

"Yeah. Bucky and Sam know the most but Steve and Wanda are good at the ones we use for games," Clint nods scratching the back of his neck, "I think that's why you're next to me."

"Hey! I’m finally faster at learning something than Rogers!" Sam turns to Natasha, “And I’ll have to see how bad you whiff your ult before I can promise I won’t judge you,”

"Sam!" Steve sighs, exasperated,

He shoots an apologetic look at Natasha, but she’s too busy flipping off Sam. Sam snorts and signs an apology, knowing she doesn’t understand. Natasha’s glare is interrupted by the sound of the “match found” prompt appearing. Suddenly, everyone’s attention is squarely on the game.

Natasha watches Wanda select Moira, Clint select Hanzo, and Steve pick Reinhardt.

"He likes to play the biggest dude," Clint stage whispers into his mic when he catches her raising her eyebrow at her screen,

Steve scoffs.

"Maybe I'm raising my eyebrow at you," Natasha replies,

"Please," Clint raises one hand to cover his chest in an exaggerated affronted gesture, "I'm the most famous Hanzo one trick in all of NA."

"I just thought maybe you'd have switched after how hard I owned you the last time we played together," Natasha grins at him,

Next to Clint, Bucky snickers, picking Widowmaker. Sam chooses Pharah, leaving Natasha the last one to pick. She quickly scrolls between Reaper, Ashe and Tracer before settling on her pick.

"Sombra, huh?" Sam asks, clearly impressed,

"Seems like you need someone a bit support-y. But also I do better on characters that can get in and get out before you even know what hit you."

"You mean sneaky ones," Clint frowns, "I hate the sneaky ones."

"Well yeah, they're made to counter snipers," Bucky comments dryly despite his grinning at Clint’s pouting,

"I can't see them! It's unfair!" Clint protests,

"Children. Focus," Steve says, sounding eerily like Coulson,

And then the gates drop, setting them loose on the map.

Natasha mostly hangs back for the first game, only jumping in when she sees an easy opportunity for a kill or assist. It lets her not only get a feeling for their opponents, but also to see how Delta flows with each other. The next game, she's able to play more aggressively, starting a few skirmishes and knowing that Steve and Sam will be around to back her up. By their third game, she's luring the other team into sniper traps set up by Clint and Bucky and they win by making their opponents rage quit the match. Natasha is giggling as she takes her headset off,

"Not bad, new girl," Sam smiles at her, leaning over the arm of his chair to fist bump with her,

"That was great!" Wanda effuses,

"Yeah that was… ridiculously smooth." Steve praises, his tone earnest and full of admiration.

Natasha feels her face warming with all of the praise and shrinks back into her chair, "It definitely wasn't just me. You guys are… let's just say it was easy to fill in the gaps."

"Tell that to the five other flexes we tried to pick up and it never worked out," Bucky grumbles under his breath,

Wanda is suddenly standing and shoving Bucky towards the kitchen, "Come on, it's time for tea and I need you to reach the high shelf for me,"

Natasha feels her shoulders slump, now that the attention is off of her. She wonders if Wanda had to put up with the same thing when she started on the team, making her empathetic to Natasha's position now. While Sam and Steve filter out to investigate the kitchen, Clint comes to stand in the gap between their gaming area and the kitchen,

"It's cool if you don't want to talk about it, I was totally there when I first started but… it's good to play with you. I hope you stick around," Clint says softly, "Eventually we can even cut you in on our sniper bet."

"With Bucky? What's the bet?"

Clint's face lights up when she shows interest and it makes Natasha want to see him like this more often, "I mean, it's dumb but it's basically the Legolas and Gimli bet from Lord of the Rings."

"Ah, so you have a Legolas/Gimli thing going on then? That makes sense," Natasha smiles, pulling one knee up to her chest and resting her chin on it,

It’s going to be so much easier for her to deal with the two of them if they have a Legolas/Gimli thing going on. Definitely no way to imagine getting in the middle of that. Nope.

"What?" Clint blinks,

Natasha just continues smiling. When it becomes evident that Clint is genuinely confused by her question, she changes tack. If they’re not together already, it feels like she can provide some useful… context.

"So which one of you is Legolas and which is Gimli, then?"

"Obviously I'm Le-"

"He's Gimli," the rest of the team interrupt from the kitchen,

"Hey!" Clint whips around so fast Natasha is afraid he's going to fall over the half wall,

"You're the comic relief," Steve says,

"I'm the bow guy, though!" Clint pouts,

"You're also shorter," Wanda adds.

Natasha catches the curiously pleased look from Barnes, and then she's too busy almost falling out of her chair laughing to focus on much else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how this took so long... I had the first 3 chapters written before I started posting but then this one needed to be edited... and re-edited... and so on...
> 
> It seems like once my brain gets into edit mode, I can't get out and start writing again D:
> 
> Anyways, I'll hopefully be posting more frequently than once every... 2 weeks... because I really got some Endgame writing to get down to.


	3. "Step into my parlor," said the spider to the fly.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha falls into place with Delta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no e-sports in this chapter, somehow.

Natasha lies in bed that night doing her carpal tunnel stretches by wrote. Which gives her mind time to wander.

This wasn't the team she thought it was going to be. The team doesn't have the tryhard mentality, but the synergy and mechanics are definitely there. She can easily see that in the afternoon of games they played. Yet they still don't have any of the big names or titles or financial backing of any of the other semi-pro teams in the area.

Natasha sighs as she gets up to retrieve her resistance bands from her bag.

No matter all the cons she could pile up against this team, they were the ones who sent her the offer. So until she signed a contract with the Defenders or the Dora Milaje or the Avengers, even, it won't do her any good to daydream about it.

* * *

The next weeks go by in a blur.

Natasha settles into Delta's streaming schedule and daily rituals easily. 

First is Wanda's afternoon tea time. It reminds her of her aunt's same ritual. Wanda even has a similar tea to the Russian one Natasha still has a soft spot for even after all her years away from home.

Then there's a fan making Natasha her own twitch emoji. Natasha pretends to be cranky that she's becoming a meme but secretly she loves it.

Next are the team dinners. Delta is not rich or famous enough to have someone cooking for them, so one of them is responsible for cooking for the rest of the team each night. Coulson even pitches in. It's nice to have downtime doing something normal, even if that downtime is essentially doing chores.

Natasha learns that Coulson is a master of a few classic dishes he's been cooking since college, while Wanda loves to experiment and has a natural talent for new flavor combinations. Sam and Steve prefer to pawn off their cooking nights in favor of cleaning up or playing sous chef. Bucky is a competent cook, although definitely without the practice or flair of Phil or Wanda. Natasha always volunteers to help him, though. They work well together, having similar tastes both in food and what parts of the recipe they want to tackle.

Clint… can't cook.

Or refuses to. Either way, if it's Clint's turn– like it is tonight– they're definitely getting takeout,

"Alright, what pizzas are we getting, gang?" Clint announces as they finish up their last game of the day,

"You can't always get pizza," Bucky sighs at his friend,

"I can if I'm paying for it," Clint says, "I never complain about what someone else is cooking,"

"That's because you're a trash compactor, Barton." Steve replies,

"Hey!"

"You literally used that to refer to yourself this morning," Natasha points out,

"It was like less than eight hours ago," Sam adds.

Clint mumbles something that sounds a lot like 'that's personal, you jerks', then more audibly says, "Alright, since clearly you all don't care either way, we're getting pineapple and onion!"

And it's all chaos after that.

* * *

Natasha stumbles into the next tradition when she's about to head out to meet some of her friends who wanted to “show her around the city’s best dive bars now that she's a local”. She's already in her fanciest clothes (which are just a low-cut black top and tight-fitting, black jeans since she didn't exactly pack for going out) when she passes by a flickering light coming from Clint and Bucky's room and parses Wanda sitting between them. Natasha knows there's no real reason for her to have been invited to their movie night, but it still feels alienating. She thought she'd been fitting in with the team, only to realize now that she still has a lot of work before she'll truly fit in.

There's a rustling in the room which startles Natasha, making her realize she's been standing in the hallway like a creep. She's already back moving towards the front door when Wanda's head appears in the crack of the door,

"Nat! Did you want to join us?" there's a pause as Wanda takes in Natasha's outfit, "You're not going out are you?"

Natasha reflexively looks down at her outfit. She's wearing her leather jacket but hasn't picked up her bag, so it's not entirely obvious she was on her way out.

"Not really," she says before she can think about it,

Jones will have to suck it up.

"Nice!" Wanda disappears for a moment then reappears, "We were watching this movie that's really dumb but also I love it,"

Natasha follows Wanda into the room, closing the door fully behind her. She can't see much of the room even with the light of the screen. Bucky and Clint are sitting on a nest of pillows and blankets that look like they've been pooled from both their beds,

"I didn't realize you took the bird thing so seriously," Natasha comments, gesturing at the collection,

Clint looks down at the pile he's currently sitting in, then back up at Natasha. Slowly, he spreads out until he’s lying across the whole thing, almost pushing Bucky off of the pile.

"I'm committed to comfort, for sure," he says, looking as serious as she's ever seen him,

Natasha can't help the glance that passes over Clint's body. It's automatic. She catches herself staring at the small strip of exposed stomach he'd unwittingly revealed and quickly switches her focus to Bucky instead. Bucky who's… also focused on Clint's exposed skin. She grins to herself. She'd been right that there was something between those two.

Wanda moves around Natasha back to her spot at the front of the pile. Natasha raises an eyebrow at Wanda, darting her eyes purposefully between the two men, asking a silent question. Wanda just rolls her eyes as if to say 'I know, right? These idiots'.

"We just started _Now You See Me_ but I don't mind if you want to see it from the start," Wanda smiles as Clint and Bucky groan, "It's my favorite movie, after all,"

Since the boys are behind Wanda, they can't see the wink she gives Natasha,

"Well… if it’s your favorite, I feel like I'd better see all of it," Natasha answers with as straight a face as she can manage.

Wanda cheers and moves to the laptop controlling the TV to restart the movie. Natasha fits herself neatly next to James so she can lean against the mattress of the bottom bunk. She doesn't need to ruin her posture any more than it already is.

"C'mon! Just explain the start to her!" Clint whines,

"We're only thirty minutes in! Natasha said she wanted to see the whole thing!" Wanda replies, "Go make some snacks if you really don’t want to see it again,"

"That bad?" Natasha asks Bucky in an undertone,

James smirks at her, "You'll see… especially since you _insisted_ on starting over,"

Natasha can't help but smile back at him. Even if hers is overly innocent.

Clint darts past them as Wanda announces she's starting the movie again. James silently passes Natasha a pillow to further prop herself up with.

About ten minutes in, Clint returns with a six pack, a bottle of wine, a large bowl of popcorn and a hot dog. How he managed to wrangle all of that in one trip is a mystery to Natasha. He sits back down not in his old spot, but on the other side of Natasha, scooting her closer to Bucky,

"You only brought one hot dog?" Bucky whispers over her, leaning slightly into her space,

"I only had hands for one!"

"You brought like a whole bar with you!"

"You're complaining about having more booze for this movie?" Clint hisses, now also leaning across Natasha,

"Do you want me to…" she starts sliding upwards to get out of their space,

It's not that she minds having one (or both) of them in her space, she's just convinced she's both literally and figuratively getting in the middle of something.

"No! It's fine, sorry," Bucky rushes, scooting over to give Natasha room,

"Sorry," Clint echoes, shooting Bucky a look Natasha can't figure out.

Disappointment? But now Clint moves to get onto the pile, which causes Natasha to move towards the middle and closer to Bucky again. Natasha reaches past Clint to grab a beer and Wanda passes the popcorn back to Natasha to hold, smiling expectantly. While Natasha isn't quite sure what that's about, she assumes it's to see if Natasha is enjoying the movie. So she smiles back. Wanda quickly turns back around as she hears a musical cue, cheering,

"This is the best part!" she points at the screen, "The meet cute!"

"Between who?" Clint asks,

"There are four of them, Wanda," Bucky adds,

"Yeah, duh. Just watch." Wanda turns back around, instantly putting all her focus back on the movie,

When the movie is over, Natasha finds that it was not as bad as Clint and Bucky were making it out to be. Sure, it threw most of the rules about plot out the window, but it was a fun ride.

"Same time next week?" Clint asks, stretching out, bumping Natasha into Bucky,

"We'll let you pick next in the rotation," Bucky adds, shoving at Clint’s arm,

"And if I pick the sequel?" Natasha asks, hoping they'll understand her implicit acceptance,

"Yes!" Wanda claps,

"Goddammit, Barnes, you’ve cursed us both!" Clint throws a pillow at him,

"I figured she couldn’t be worse than you dweebs, anyway," James taunts, looking at Clint and Wanda with fondness.

Natasha feels a warmth spread through her chest. Easy and comforting. It feels like belonging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that! Almost a week exactly!
> 
> I'm still figuring out how to write future chapters and edit "current" ones at the same time but apparently I'm getting better :P


	4. Chasseurs toujours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda turns towards them, "What's happening here. I'm missing something good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some Nat/Bucky content :)
> 
> (just kidding it's mostly pining lol)

It's a few more weeks before Natasha has a day off. Technically it's the whole team's day off, but it's a day off nonetheless.

After spending the morning reading in bed, she's restless enough to venture into the main room. The rest of the team is already out there, which isn't too surprising considering their rooms are basically glorified dorm rooms. Wanda is on her computer, chatting and smiling with whoever's on the other end of her webcam. Clint and Steve are _both_ in the kitchen, which is concerning. Sam and Bucky seem to have the same worry, placing themselves as far from the kitchen as possible.

Natasha darts in and out to retrieve a mug of tea before joining Sam and Bucky at the couches. She signs a greeting to them both, which they return cheerily.

'Slow day' she signs to them,

Sam laughs, nodding his agreement,

"We can play some games if it's too slow," Bucky replies, signing along as he talks,

Natasha watches his hands raptly and repeats what she thinks are 'play' and 'game' back to him,

"Will Wanda mind?" Natasha asks, "It seems like she's on a call,"

"Good chance to practice some signing," Bucky winks at her,

"V won't mind, anyway," Sam says, "He's the Avengers' support so he knows how it is,"

Natasha raises an eyebrow at that. She hadn't realized Wanda knew anyone on the Avengers. Before she can start calculating ways to leverage that connection, Bucky interrupts her train of thought,

"So what do you wanna play?"

Natasha mentally assesses the games she owns, what she's in the mood for and if any of those are actually multiplayer.

"Ever play Counter Strike?" Natasha grins, challenge in her smile,

"Only every high schooler has," Bucky returns, "Feeling nostalgic?"

"Maybe I just want to kick your ass,” Natasha shrugs, looking at Sam, “You in, Sam?"

"Oh, all that realistic shooter shit doesn't really play well with my PTSD. I'll stick to scrolling through twitter, thanks,"

"Well, be careful on twitter, too," Natasha says,

Sam just waves her off, smiling as she walks over to her computer,

"Message me your account name," she says to Bucky, "we can smurf some games together."

Bucky grins in challenge and starts to finger spell it to her instead.

Which is why it takes her so long to connect the dots. He's halfway through spelling it again for her when it really hits.

"Shut up," she breathes, feeling like she'd just gotten punched in the gut,

"I mean I'm signing so…" Bucky jokes, but trails off when he sees her expression, "Natasha?"

"Are you serious right now?"

" _What_?!" he repeats, his eyebrows furrowing in worry and confusion,

"That's your old handle?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember Alianova?" Natasha has to bite down on her lip for fear of what her face might do otherwise.

"Alia–" Bucky's face flickers through several emotions before settling on shock, eyes wide and breath shaking, "Holy shit. _Holy shit_ , you're kidding me. _You're_ Alianova?!"

"And you're WinterSoldier. Fuck," Natasha laughs breathlessly, "How long has it been since we were in that clan together?"

Bucky half groans and half laughs, "I don't want to think about it. I mean I was in high school,"

"Hold on, Viz," Wanda turns towards them, "What's happening here. I'm missing something good."

"Nat and I used to be in a competitive Counter Strike clan together back in high school and we had no clue until… just now," Bucky says, smiling shakily at Wanda,

" _James_ here used to follow me around like a puppy in all our matches," she says to Wanda, narrowing her eyes at Bucky.

He opens his mouth to say something. Correct her, maybe, but closes it a moment later, frowning softly.

Natasha understands. She's also overwhelmed that it turns out her best Counter Strike partner is her current Overwatch partner, too.

She wants to run away and hide in her room and to hug him at the same time. Her fists clench and unclench at her sides and she's _grinning_.

Bucky— James— is only getting paler the longer she's grinning- probably slightly maniacally- and she feels like she should really put him out of his misery before he ghosts through the floor,

"It's just…" Natasha tries to take a deep breath to get her emotions into some sensible order, "I can't believe we finally managed to meet up in person… after all these years."

She'd told Wanda that James had followed her when they played together, but the truth was he'd been the one showing her the ropes when she first started in their clan. She'd followed _him_ like a lovesick puppy for quite a while. They'd spent many a late night talking about how they'd meet up in person and "hang out". Natasha was in high school so it was… intoxicating to have a boy who was interested in her even though she was a huge nerd and spent all her time playing video games. Hell, he was probably _more_ interested in her because of that.

Bucky's shoulders slump and the tension bleeds from his face. The corners of his mouth curve into a soft smile. Then he's laughing, leaning forward so his hair falls into his face. She suddenly feels the need to reach out and tuck it behind his ear.

She finds herself reaching out to knock him in the shoulder.

To feel him solid in front of her.

Wanda is looking between the two of them like she wishes she could summon some popcorn.

James’ laughter peters out slowly. He’s still smiling when he looks up at her, and damn if that isn’t a look that she can get used to. He’s raising an eyebrow in question to her. Her hand is still on his shoulder, she realizes.

Natasha’s cheeks heat as she trails her hand off of his shoulder. She can’t look up to see what kind of look James has on his face, so she looks at her computer instead.

"Should we see if we can still duo together?" she smiles sidelong at him,

James’ grin turns wicked. Natasha's stomach ties itself into knots,

"Gotta go, Viz. Things just got _very_ interesting over here." Wanda grins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pacing? Who is she? I don't know her.
> 
> Next chapter is the actual tournament! Yay plot!


	5. Dans ma ligne de mire.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We’ll go and kick so much ass they’ll have to bring Delta into the majors,” Clint grins, pulling Bucky and Natasha in towards him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fighting me the whole way... I hope it's worth the wait!
> 
> Also I should point out that my Jess/Val is me blatantly stealing from [Runaways](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14770311/chapters/34158783) in an attempt to show how much that fic means to me and inspires me. If you've never read it, stop reading this right now and go read it, it's way better than this fic.

Coulson slides a piece of paper to the center of the table at the end of dinner one night.

Clint and Natasha crowd forward to read what’s on it while Sam and Steve look at Phil,

“What is it?” Steve asks,

“Read it.” Phil grins,

Steve turns to Clint and Nat, who are settling back into their seats. Clint is smiling so hard, he might be vibrating faintly and Natasha isn’t sure he’ll be able to answer,

“It’s an invite from Tony Stark,” she relays, “He’s having a promotional tournament… and he wants us to be a part of it,”

Wanda’s eyes light up and she leans forward with Sam to pick apart the invite,

“What does that mean?” Steve asks, watching Sam and Wanda,

“It means we’re going on a road trip!” Sam cheers, high-fiving Wanda,

He high-fives Bucky, as well, who rolls his eyes but still high-fives Sam back.

“It means,” Phil cuts in, “Stark chose Delta as one of the top three promising teams and wants to try and get you all onto an actual pro team.”

“We wouldn’t leave you, Phil!” Wanda says,

“I’m definitely not in this for the fame,” Steve adds,

Natasha glances at the rest of the team and they seem similarly unenthused by the aspect of leaving Delta. She chews the inside of her cheek and tries to dismiss the crawling feeling of not belonging, being out of place.

Phil holds up his hands, “I’m not going to force any of you to leave,” he laughs shortly,

“We’ll go and kick so much ass they’ll have to bring Delta into the majors,” Clint grins, pulling Bucky and Natasha in towards him.

* * *

They pile into Sam's old van and look into the two other teams they'll be facing. They all huddle together around Steve's phone to watch some past streams from the Revengers and Defenders.

The Hell's Kitchen Defenders are a much more established team than both Delta and the Revengers. Watching the VODs, their teamwork is solid with no clear weak points after their hot-headed, Doomfist main Danny Rand stepped back from being on the main roster to be the team's coach. It seems their match will be down to who can make better plays on the day.

The Revengers are a new NA team having just moved to the tri-state area from the EU region. Their style is typical EU: aggressive and fast. The team is also notable for having three ( _three_ ) siblings on it. Natasha, who never had any siblings, but who can see how James and Steve squabble, can't imagine how that could end well. But by all the reports, the three become a force to be reckoned with when they're all on the same page.

Stark had apparently made the call that, in deference of the Revengers just arriving in their region, they would get the higher seed. Which means Delta will be facing off against the Defenders first.

* * *

Natasha spends the rest of the ride pressed between James and Wanda in the cramped back seat. James has taken his prosthetic arm off for the long ride in cramped quarters and promptly passes out on her shoulder. Natasha finds an odd pride in the fact that he’d trust her to guard his side while it’s at its most vulnerable. Wanda, on the other hand (or side), is texting a mile a minute, knee jumping incessantly and humming something tunelessly to herself. Sensory overload versus a weighted blanket.

The dichotomy is not helping the nervous gurgle building in her stomach, started by the fact that they’re on their way to her first tournament. Performing in front of a crowd has never been her strong suit and now she’s going to be on display playing Overwatch for who knows how many fans. Her fingers tap rapidly against her knee.

Clint, who’s riding in the trunk after claiming to have been a carnie as a child, leans over the seat bench to insert himself between her and Wanda. She feels her cheeks warm, now that she’s caught between the two boys.

Maybe not caught. More like secure.

He pointedly looks between her and James. Natasha unconsciously braces herself for his disappointment or derision. He grins and winks, instead. Which is somehow entirely worse than him being upset. It sends her reeling, her mind slipping through possibilities without being able to catch on any one.

Clint waggles his phone at her more pointedly when she doesn’t acknowledge it at first. It takes her a moment to process what’s on the screen, but she grins when she sees the group selfie with Kate, Peter, Shuri and the rest of the Avengers Academy team.

'Kate going too?' Natasha signs,

Clint nods enthusiastically. He's been lowkey mentoring the younger Hanzo main ever since she stole his handle and forced him to change to his current ‘Hawkguy’.

Natasha makes a mental note to invite the younger Hawkeye to their no-dudes discord later when they get back from the tournament. The Valkyries can always use a few more members.

* * *

It takes much less time than they budgeted for to get unloaded when they arrive at the theater the tournament will be held at. Tony had hired workers to take care of most of the electronics setup and provided computers, so they just need hand over their keyboards and mice to the production staff.

"Well," Phil declares, sliding some sunglasses onto his face, "That's my job done. Be back here at 8 tomorrow and enjoy your free time tonight."

"I've got friends to catch up with. Wanda, you can tag along if you like." Natasha says, turning to the team,

"Sure!" Wanda smiles,

"What about the rest of us?" Sam looks at her sidelong, a sign she's learned that he's certainly teasing,

Natasha turns to look him dead in the eye, face carefully expressionless besides a slow creeping smile.

"I'm very frightened by that look," Sam stage whispers to Bucky,

It takes him a moment to react, still groggy from his long nap in the car, his hair still adorably mussed. He blushes slightly when he realizes they're all staring at him and quickly elbows Sam.

Natasha catches herself enthralled in the changing hue and how it highlights his already gorgeous cheekbones. She blinks. A night away from the boys will definitely help her clear her head before their matches tomorrow.

* * *

It doesn't take long to track down Jess and Val. A: they're always on their phones, B: they're always at the dive-iest bar they can find.

"Take the girl out of Hell's Kitchen, but you can't take the Hell's Kitchen out of the girl," Jess says when they find her, "And you owe me a drink, red."

Wanda briefly looks down at her mostly red attire.

"She means me,” Natasha relieves her by painting to her own hair, “Wanda, meet Jess. Jess plays on the Defenders. This is her girlfriend, Val. She's DPS for the Revengers," Natasha says, gesturing to each woman in turn,

Val nods, being her usual standoffish self.

"Please. Call me Jessica. Jess is my mother," Jess deadpans, leaning conspiratorially towards Wanda,

For some reason, this sets Wanda off laughing immediately. Natasha is briefly worried, but when Jess joins in the laughter, Natasha figures she's safe to make her run to the bar.

By the time she returns from the bar, Jess and Wanda are leaning together, gesturing rapidly.

"Should I be worried?" Natasha nods towards the other women,

Val barely looks over at them, "Oh. Definitely," she responds slowly, grinning.

Natasha tries not to be worried by that. She brought Wanda here to make new connections, after all. But Val is not exactly a comforting presence, especially not with her grinning like she is. Natasha passes the extra pitcher of beer over, effectively distracting Val.

"How much forgiveness does this buy me?" Natasha slides the glass of bourbon to Jess,

Jess barely looks at the drink before drinking deeply. Wanda raises an eyebrow at Natasha as if to ask 'is she going to be okay?'. Which is definitely most people's first reaction to Jess.

"Damn, you must _really_ regret blowing me off," Jess blows out an appreciative breath,

"Eh, not really… but that would be a shitty thing to say, don't you think?" Natasha grins, sharp,

Jess eyes Natasha for a long moment before finally laughing so hard she almost spills the rest of her drink. Her laughter quiets down after a moment, and Jess turns her surprisingly sharp gaze back on Natasha,

"So what is it that makes you not regret missing a night in my company? Better be something good," Jess says,

Val settles across the backs of Jess and Natasha's chairs, suddenly intent on the conversation,

"It's just movie night," Natasha shrugs,

She has to turn to address Val, so she misses the look Wanda shoots Jess.

"Well I'd hope you were ditching us for something better than a _movie night_ ," Jess drawls, leaning back against Val,

Wanda's snicker is mostly covered by the din of the bar. Natasha hopes the dingy lighting of the bar will hide the blush creeping up her face.

Val and Jess trade a grin that means it's not quite that dark.

"Oooh, Romanoff, you've been holding out on us," Val grins, "Who's the dude?"

"Well that's a very heteronorma—”

"It's _two_ dudes," Wanda interjects cheerfully,

Natasha tries to glare at her teammate but the excited shouting from Jess and Val makes her jump.

"Romanoff!"

"Damn, red! Now you really have to tell us everything."

"There’s nothing to tell, we’re just teammates," Natasha says quickly,

"Well..." Wanda says slowly, "Barnes and Barton do have a real ‘will-they-won’t-they’ dynamic going on,"

"Yes! I knew it!" Natasha is exclaiming before she can think better of it,

Which is a mistake because Val and Jess are _extremely_ interested now, leaning in towards her. Wanda is trying to hide a smirk behind the rim of her glass. Natasha presses her lips into a thin line, knowing when she's been routed.

Jess picks up her glass, but doesn’t drink. A bad sign for Natasha, “Seems like you’ve been paying some extra attention to those two, huh,”

“They’re cute together,” she shrugs, aiming for nonchalance,

“So you think they’re cute.” Jess presses,

Natasha has never had Jess’ intense perception turned on her before and she’s finding she doesn’t like it. Apparently her poker face is extremely lacking.

“I’m pretty sure you can think that a couple looks cute without being _attracted_ to them,” Natasha gestures to Jess and Val,

“Bad example, red,” Val purrs, “We both know you’re into long, dark hair,”

Wanda snickers,

Natasha blushes and scowls at them,

“So you like them. They like each other. Do they like you?” Jess sits back, finally, and Natasha finds she can breathe freely again,

“I don’t know,” Natasha says at the same time Wanda says, “Yes.”

All three of them turn to Wanda, blinking,

“What,” Natasha breathes,

“What?!” Val and Jess chorus, eyes bright and grinning,

Wanda smiles not unkindly, “Trust me. I’ve watched them dance around each other for long enough. The dance still looks the same with a third partner.”

And now she feels like she can breathe for the first time in _months_.

“What.” Natasha repeats, and her eyes are no longer seeing any of them,

Jess finishes off her bourbon with a flourish, giving Natasha some time to process.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

The lack of Jess’ usual acidic tone gets Natasha to focus on her. She knows the answer, deep in the part of her gut that always makes the right call in a team fight.

“I won’t risk compromising the team,” she says instead,

“Cut the self-righteous bullshit, I get enough of that from Matt,” Jess scoffs, "It's not like we're in the government or some shit. Lives aren’t exactly on the line. Hell, I play better with Murdock than anyone else on my team, it might even be a _benefit_ to your team."

Wanda turns towards Natasha, eyebrows raised expectantly as if this was new information. Natasha crosses her arms over her chest,

"It's just not something that's going to happen. Not while we're on the same team."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This conversation/revelation for Nat was originally a much larger conversation with the rest of the MCU ladies later in the story but stuff that happens in the next few chapters doesn’t make sense without this conversation happening now so… I think I have to cut the later one 😭😭 I’ll try to fit all my faves and their chatgroup in, still… maybe in an epilogue?


	6. La veuve tisse sa toile.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tournament has finally begun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I’m trying a glossary thing… A lot of the links in this chapter will link to definitions in the bottom description if you need them :) If that’s helpful, let me know and I can go mark up the previous chapters!
> 
> Also you better believe that my Thor is fat because fat Thor in Endgame DESERVED BETTER 👏

Watching Tony Stark from only a few feet away in the wings is a strange feeling. He's an Overwatch legend and Natasha had never considered she'd be in the same _room_ as him. Forget having him announcing her premiere match with Strike Team Delta. On her first real team.

"It's a bit much, isn't it?"

Natasha nearly jumps out of her skin,

"Jesus, Pep," Natasha breathes,

"Sorry, I didn't expect I'd be able to sneak up on you," Pepper smiles softly, "Game day nerves?"

Natasha blows out a breath, nodding. She feels like that's all she can manage right now. Luckily she's known Pepper for ages. Pepper was the one who introduced her and Jess and thus set her on the path to competitive Overwatch. Pepper practically has a PhD in Natasha silences.

"If it helps, you can think of how much more nervous you'll be later if you can make it past the other two teams," Pepper quirks one eyebrow, smiling wryly,

Natasha half chokes and half laughs, "Oh my _god_ , that absolutely does not help, Pep," before she's giggling breathlessly.

Pepper nods, smiling with satisfaction as if to say 'tell me it didn't work.'

"Oh no, you broke her..." Clint somehow manages to sound concerned and sarcastic at the same time, "We need her, why'd you do that?"

Pepper shrugs, unconcerned. Clint runs a hand down her back, slowly, soothing. It's large and warm and makes her shiver slightly and sober up _immediately_. Straightening up the same moment Pepper is giving them the cue to walk on stage.

Which is good because otherwise she'd have to answer why she'd had such an intense reaction to someone _touching her back_ like she's in fucking middle school or something. And it also ensures she's not still a giggling mess walking into the blindingly bright stage lights. Basically: points to Clint.

On the stage, they each step forward and wave as their name and position are announced. When she's announced last, as Delta's newest member, she's staggered by the amount of applause she receives. It must be showing on her face when she turns back to the team, because Sam is giving her a thumbs up, Steve has a proud smile all for her and James. James is looking at her in a way that makes her unfathomably warm. It burns against where she can still feel Clint's hand on her back.

It’s all she can do to smile back.

They take a bow in front of the audience now that Delta is fully introduced to the crowd, and move off to their row of computers to make room on the stage.

Natasha leans back into the absurdly expensive gaming chair to watch the introduction of their first opponents.

"And their opponents in match one: The Hell's Kitchen Defenders!" the announcer pauses for the applause to die down, "Team captain and tank: Luke 'Power_Man' Cage!"

'What the fuck. He plays Hammond?!' Clint signs,

Natasha grins behind her hand, barely holding back a full laugh, aware that the crowd can definitely see them. She forgets that not everyone has met Luke in real life before. It's like the reverse of Steve. Luke is so solidly built he looks like he should be indestructible, yet... he plays the tiny hamster champion.

Not that he isn't a fearsome hamster to behold once he gets rolling.

"DPSes: Colleen 'WingingIt' Wing, Matt 'DareDevil' Murdock and Trish 'HELLcat' Walker!"

Trish waves demurely as the crowd truly explodes for the first time since Tony kicked off the tournament. Tony is the original Overwatch superstar, but Trish is the next generation. Her instagram and radio show give people a whole new level of access to streamers and pro-gamers alike and while she's not quite on Tony's level _yet_ , it's inevitable that she'll overtake him.

"Support: Claire 'NightNurse' Temple! And flex: Jessica 'Jewel' Jones!"

Once Jess is back from waving to the crowd, she makes eye contact with Natasha before smiling and flipping her off out of view of the crowd.

Natasha rolls her eyes at her friend.

"Finally, their coach: Danny 'IronFist' Rand!"

With the Defenders settling in at their computers, the suffocating pressure settles back in over Natasha. She's played with Jess a handful of times but most of their friendship was based on hard liquor and the tendency for most other people to call them a bitch. Not their compatibility in Overwatch.

"Alright, Delta. For this game, all I want you to do is not get caught up in your own heads. The Defenders are the type of team you play against any day, so it should be a good warm up for us,”

Coulson's even-keeled demeanor calms her nerves. If Coulson didn't bother preparing anything for them for the Defenders, it means he has faith that winning is totally within Delta's abilities.

* * *

The game isn't perfect. They stumble their way through a few shaky plays, feeling their way through the "big stage" jitters.

Ultimately, Clint gets a good shot onto Matt despite his preternatural ability to avoid any and all attacks, and they can press that advantage into a win.

Natasha clutches her water bottle hard to keep it from spilling while Sam and James dogpile onto Clint, yelling incoherently.

Steve ushers the team over to the opposite side of the stage to shake hands with the Defenders.

"If you wanna beat yourself up, I can just do it for you," Jess says, punching Matt,

"Your relationship is weird," Natasha says, passing to shake hands with each of them,

"Glass houses, red," Jess replies too-brightly, raising the eyebrows of both Matt and Clint.

"Congratulations to Strike Team Delta for advancing to the second round! Your next opponent, fighting for the right to face the Avengers for our grand prize... The Revengers!" the announcer says once Delta are back at their computers,

The team that comes out looks like a full on pantheon of Norse gods (and goddesses). And one nerd. And one... old eccentric who's presumably their coach and definitely their source of money.

"The Revengers' flex and team captain: Thor 'GodOFThunder' Odinson!"

The blonde who steps forward has the build you would expect from someone who gets paid to play video games. But you probably wouldn't expect them to also be like seven feet tall, have long golden hair and a beard accentuated by small braids woven through it.

"What? Is that 'viking'?" Sam asks Clint, drawing Natasha's attention back to her own team,

Bucky is signing back, 'Look better with axe.'

"Tanks: Brunnhilde 'Valkyrie' and Sif 'TheLadySif'!"

Val, at least, Natasha is used to. But standing next to Sif, she's forced to reckon with how gorgeous they both are. Sif’s dark hair, cropped short, and fair skin seem even more striking next to Val's dark skin and long black hair.

'I get those two,' Natasha signs, 'You can keep axe,'

Which stops their snickering in its tracks. Natsha turns away with a satisfied grin. Missing the heated looks both Clint and James shoot her.

"DPSes: Hela 'HellzAngel' Friggasdottir and Loki 'Noobmaster69' Odinson!"

The two who step forward have the same dark hair and sour scowl, waving perfunctorily before retaking their place in the lineup.

'Siblings?' Sam asks,

Natasha and Steve shrug. They have the family resemblance, unlike Loki and Thor who share the last name. But they know there are three siblings on this team, and maybe it's a blended family thing.

"Flex player: Bruce 'TheOtherGuyDidIt' Banner! With their coach: En Dwi 'Grandmaster' Gast!"

The two normal-looking humans (even if the former is looking a bit green around the gills and the latter is wearing an _excessive_ amount of glitter) take their turn waving to the crowd, then they're into the lobby for hero selection.

"The Revengers have an unconventional 2/2/2 comp with no support mains. So they play aggressive. I'd advise taking an extra support and maybe tank to try to take the aggressive plays away from them," Coulson pauses, clearly anticipating their reactions, "Basically: try to not play into their chaotic style."

"Oh, but we're so good at chaos," Wanda fake pouts, twisting in her chair to face Coulson,

"I'm just asking you to try," Coulson smiles, "I know it's beyond me to change your nature."

On Coulson's advice, Bucky takes Ana instead of Widowmaker and Natasha picks Orisa. Wanda even leaves Moira for the much safer Mercy.

They take the first few skirmishes as slow and steady as they can. The Revengers, despite having a comp that should play conservatively and have little damage potential, keep managing to slip between Delta’s defenses and hitting them _hard_.

"Loki is a huge problem," Steve says during a break when half of the team is dead,

"He's fast and annoying but he's way less of a problem than Hela and Banner," Sam says,

"Valkyrie got me," Clint grumbles as the game announces his death,

"So we've narrowed it down to: they're all problems," Steve sighs,

Natasha is too busy protecting Wanda's retreat to reply. She hears a ping indicating a message from someone on her in-game friends list. Which is weird because they're not playing on the game's public servers.

 **RVGR_Valkyrie:** having fun? ;)  
**RVGR_Valkyrie:** lol Hela is yelling that you cockblocked her kill

Natasha frowns at the messages. Apparently Val is not above some mid-match trash talking to try to get Delta to throw even harder.

"Hey," Natasha says slowly, "I have an idea. If you're willing to trust me."

Everyone is silent until Steve says, "Of course, Nat. What've you got?"

Natasha directs James back onto Widowmaker, Wanda onto Baptiste and she switches to Ashe.

Every time Hela's Genji throws out his ult, Wanda is there to make sure no one dies. Whenever she tries to step out, Bucky and Sam harass her back into cover so she can't get close enough to do any damage. When she tries to get the rest of the Revengers to create space for her, Natasha sends B.O.B. _through_ all of them at Hela.

The match snowballs quickly once they get Hela to tilt. Natasha is pretty sure she can hear Hela screaming at the rest of the team even before her headphones come off. Luckily, Hela is too busy fuming at Thor to do much more than grip everyone's hands too tightly as they trade handshakes.

"Strike Team Delta! The underdogs of this tournament have overcome two formidable teams to face our very own New York Avengers in the final round!" the announcer says, "But before that, we're having a brief intermission so our players and shoutcasters can have a bit of a break. See you back here in 15 minutes for the main event!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could NOT come up with the last names people usually use for Sif and Val so... if you know them, let me know and I'll go back and add them >_>
> 
> Glossary:
> 
>   * Hammond: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/wrecking-ball/ 
>   * DPS: in this case, it refers to a role played on an Overwatch team of someone who plays a damage champion. In general, it’s an acronym for “damage per second”.
>   * lobby: generally what people call the matchmaking or hero selection menu of a game since it’s kind of a “waiting room” into the real game
>   * comp: short for "composition", used to refer to the type of players or champions used by a team
>   * main: used to refer to someone who plays a certain role or champion as their first (or possibly best) choice
>   * throw: when a team “throws away” a win due to playing badly or getting tilted (see below)
>   * ult: short of “ultimate”. In MOBAs, this is basically a character/champion’s equivalent of an anime finishing move: it’s an ability that they can only use after a long cooldown due to how powerful it is. In Overwatch, ults are charged up using a variety of factors (more here)
>   * snowball: an exponential gain in power for a player or team
>   * tilt: upsetting someone so badly that their gameplay suffers or they are fully unable to play
>   * shoutcaster: a commentator for an e-sports match
> 



	7. Now you have my attention.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And now for the main event! The Avengers versus our underdog champions: Strike! Team! Delta!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I might finally be able to put a chapter count on this!!!
> 
> I also may or may not be working on a "World Cup" sequel because I've been super enamored watching the US Women's Team at the World Cup! And I need to write about The Avengers forming a national team for an international tournament because my brain will not leave me alone 🙃

Natasha breathes a sigh of relief. Before she realizes that in 15 minutes she's going to be in a match against _The Avengers_ and then her legs decide to just _stop_ , depositing her heavily on the green room's couch.

"Nat!"

Steve's face clouds over with worry when she falls onto the couch so hard it bangs against the wall of their green room.

"I'll be fine," she's surprised when her voice comes out strained and breathless, "It's just all hitting me at once,"

Clint and Bucky barely glance at each other before they sit down on each side of her, squeezing her between them. She shivers, thinking about what it would feel like to sit like this with their arms around her. Then swallows the idea, berating herself for getting distracted so easily.

"Didn't think you'd be the fainting type," Sam looks at her sidelong, the way that she knows he does when he's teasing,

"I'll show you a faint, Wilson," she growls,

She gets a few inches off the couch before Clint and James get an arm around her waist to pull her back down. James gives her a reproachful glance. Clint just sighs, leaning harder on her.

"Ah, there she is," Wanda says,

Steve is breathing a sigh of relief as Natasha suddenly realizes that their arms are _staying_ on her, slung low around her back, as if he's afraid she might go after Sam again. She darts a look around the room, feeling the need to confirm with someone else that this is happening. Even if it means facing their judgement.

Sam, for his part, looks pleased.

Natasha knows she should pull away. She doesn't want Clint— or anyone else on the team— to think she wasn't taking things seriously. That she would jeopardize the stability of the team for her own desires. She doesn't want to be that kind of girl... that kind of _person_.

But their arms are a comforting weight behind her, both so warm. Their heat worming its way into her tense muscles, relaxing them slowly.

Although, she might have relaxed too much. James has to subtly nudge her leg with his. Phil is lecturing them. Or maybe giving them a pep talk. It takes her a moment to zero in on which one.

"- drink water and take your bathroom breaks now," Phil is saying, "You've been playing games all morning and The Avengers are coming in fresh,"

Pepper sticks her head into their room, "About time to get back out there,"

"Thank you, Ms. Potts," Coulson replies before turning back to Delta, "Alright, juice boxes if you win. I'm serious."

"He must really want this win bad if he's willing to brave Clint, Wanda and Sam on a sugar high," James whispers in her ear,

Natasha laughs softly in a vain attempt to cover her shiver. She levers herself off the couch before she can further incriminate herself. Clint's hand remains a dead weight on the couch between him and Bucky.

"Come on," she reaches out to pull both of them up, "Don't make me carry you in real life, also. I do that enough in game."

"Oooh,"

"Ouch," Clint pouts at Bucky, "She's so mean. Why do we like her again?"

James flushes, frozen, looking wide-eyed at Clint. Clint looks utterly unrepentant, raising an eyebrow in challenge at James. Natasha opens her mouth, but doesn't have time to question them as a stagehand comes to shoo them out onto the stage.

* * *

"And now for the main event! The Avengers versus our underdog champions: Strike! Team! Delta!" the announcer draws out the final syllable as the crowd's cheering grows deafening,

Delta returns to their side of the stage, waving to the crowd as they take their places again.

"And now: the New York's Avengers! Team captain: Tony 'I_am_Ironman' Stark!"

Stark takes a lap around the stage as the rest of his team tries to not visibly roll their eyes at him. Natasha is just surprised he didn't get pyro for his intro. She wonders if Pepper stopped him.

"Tank: Hank 'Beast' McCoy! DPSes: Hope 'w4sp' VanDyne and James 'WarMachineRox' Rhodes! Support: Victor 'TheVision' Shade and flex: Scott 'Anty-Matter' Lang!"

The announcer waits as the crowd's cheers die down, "With their coach and manager: Pepper 'Rescue_Myself' Potts!"

Pepper gives a small thumbs up to Natasha as her team is settling in at their computers. Pepper mouths 'kick their asses' to her as she puts on the headset to talk to her own team. Natasha has to make a conscious effort to not collapse into laughter.

"Alright, Delta. The Avengers are not going to be easy to take down. They're a level above anything we've already faced. But Stark is the centerpiece of their squad and he's getting a bit too old to still be playing professionally." Coulson paces behind them, speaking into his own headset,

That tips Natasha over the edge into full blown laughter,

"What?" Coulson narrows his eyes at her,

"I think Tony would die on the spot if someone called him old to his face," Natasha says through her laughter,

"Or throw a diva fit," Wanda adds,

"That counts as a strategy from me," Coulson says, "Especially after Natasha played a great psychological game on The Revengers,"

"You're welcome," Natasha replies dryly,

"Don't worry, you'll get an extra juice box for that," Coulson winks,

Natasha rolls her eyes even though she knows Phil can't see the gesture. James, however, can. He starts snickering as well, which draws Clint's attention,

"You can have my juice box if Coulson isn't paying you enough," Sam says to Natasha,

"Damn, Wilson," Steve grins, "He must be paying you more than me if you can afford to give away your juice boxes,"

"Hey, I'm just willing to do my part to keep the talent on board,"

Natasha grins, reaching across Clint to bump her fist with Sam's.

The coaching time runs out and the character select screen comes up. Coulson takes his headset off and shakes hands with Pepper as they exit the stage together,

"Oh, Coulson didn't have time to tell give us a comp strategy," Wanda says,

"We all kinda got caught up in the juice box rat race, huh," Clint sighs,

"Let this be a reminder to overthrow the juice box economy," Bucky replies solemnly,

Natasha salutes him, picking Zarya, "Comrade," she says in an overwrought Russian accent,

"We didn't get far with a conservative comp last time, so let's just go all out to start," Steve decides,

"Your call, Cap," Sam answers,

Bucky starts on Widowmaker again and Wanda is back on Moira. Natasha picks Sombra, a good counter to Torbjorn since her hack ability can disable his turrets.

"Nat," Steve turns in his seat to face her, "You were just wrecking face with Ashe,"

Natasha frowns, Steve has never doubted her decision making, especially of her own picks. 

It knocks her off kilter, and that's really not what she needs going into this match.

Moreso, she would never have questioned his calls before now, either.

But, she knows how to play aggro.

She keeps her face neutral as she picks Reaper.

Sam's low whistle comes out distorted over their mics, "Alright. Let's play some fuckin' Overwatch," he grins.

Natasha grins back. Cold.

When the gates drop, she doesn't wait for the rest of Delta before peeling off into one of the map's side paths. Stays opposite of James' preferred side so he can have better sight lines. Despite not relaying her plan at all, Clint is behind her, always covering her weak spots.

They're trading evenly in skirmishes– nothing is a full-blown team fight. Maybe better than even, but still managing to lose progress on the objective to the Avengers. As much as their synergy and teamfighting is better than the Avengers', they're always a step ahead on strategy with Tony calling the shots. 

"We're not making any headway against Stark, Stevie," Bucky grinds out, "It's getting embarrassing watching you all run headfirst into his traps over and over."

"Thank you for the support, Barnes," Sam snaps,

"Alright," Steve replies, taking a deep breath, "You're right. Nat?"

"It's gonna cost you double juice boxes," she replies evenly,

Natasha cuts a glance towards Steve before switching to Tracer on her next death.

She weaves around McCoy's Winston easily, Sam supporting her from overhead. Sows chaos in the backline before recalling back out, leaving kills to Clint and James. Wanda even gets a good outplay against Vision's Zenyatta. She has the information she needs by the time Hope hunts her down from above.

"All scouted for you," Natasha says,

"Let's take 'em out," Clint says to Wanda,

With Natasha running interference on Tony with Sombra, they start making headway.

One point captured. Then two.

They're in the Avengers' base on the last 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. I don't know where the juice boxes came from, either.
> 
> Glossary:
> 
>   * Carry: when someone on your team needs to do more or all of the work to get to a goal :P
>   * Comp: short for 'composition'
>   * Pick: sort of short for "champion pick", although can also be used as a noun to mean "strategy of picking champs"
>   * Play aggro: short for "playing aggressive", generally means you're going to subscribe to "the best defense is a good offense"
>   * Trading: when kills are "traded" during fights. A "good trade" is losing a less important player to "trade" a kill for a more important player, or taking more kills off the other team than you lose
>   * Capture point: One of the modes of Overwatch is kind of king of the hill where you have to maintain control/presence on a capture point in order to win the match. I believe the last point is indeed inside the opponents' base
> 



	8. Hm, un vrai chef-d'oeuvre.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Delta get a much deserved afterparty for winning the tournament ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one doesn't even need a glossary 😈
> 
> (which is my way of saying "mind the rating bump")
> 
>  
> 
> ~~it's probably unnecessary but....~~

The instant the match end screen comes up, Natasha is shaking like a leaf in a storm. For once, she's glad for Steve's mother henning instincts as he shepherds them all across the stage to shake hands with the Avengers. Because that was a whole step Natasha forgot about.

She's about conscious enough to recognize Pepper just off stage, jumping up and down, cheering wildly.

Then she's pressed between Bucky and Clint as they line up to receive the giant novelty check from Tony, who couldn't look more thrilled. And then they don’t _stop_ touching her- arms around her shoulder, a hand on her back- as Delta poses for a torrent of promotional pictures.

A lot of her frayed concentration is spent making sure she doesn’t just stare at them in confusion.

She wonders if this is their way of teasing her. When they know she can’t do anything except smile for the cameras and hope the blush permanently heating her face is washed out by the harsh stage lights. Although why they’re choosing _now_ to start flirting with her is… frustrating.

They only stop when the rest of the team is split up for various interviews while Natasha ushered off the stage by Pepper herself. She has no time to wonder why because Pepper immediately hugs her tightly, somehow jumping up and down at the same time.

"Nat?" Pepper is looking concerned when Natasha doesn't respond at all,

"I... we did it... Pepper?"

Pepper grasps Natasha's arms tightly, "I knew you had it in you," she winks,

Natasha sees the notification pop up on her phone. From Pepper. Who’s standing right in front of her. She looks at Pepper, wide-eyed.

“Oh, don’t mind me,” Pepper says primly,

She opens the message from Pepper, surprised that it leads straight to an e-mail. From the Avengers' business account.

All the breath rushes out of her at once.

The paperwork is actually attached, already signed by Stark himself (and by Pepper, of course.) The amount of money has her counting the zeroes to make sure her eyes aren't playing tricks.

Her hands are shaking now. As she tightens them into fists, she tells herself the churning feeling in her stomach is excitement.

“Look good?” Pepper says, drawing Natasha’s attention back to the real world,

And not the tunnel vision she’d been experiencing as she tried to finish reading the e-mail,

“I— why, Pep?”

“I told you. I knew you had it in you,” Pepper glances at something over Natasha’s shoulder, “Obviously I need you to sign the paperwork to make it official, but… do you accept?”

Natasha takes a shaky breath. This is everything she’s been working towards. Being worthy of joining the Avengers. She bites the inside of her cheek thinking of Clint and James’ recent… forwardness. The offer from the Avengers is almost too timely. It’s everything falling into place for her after years of hard work.

“Yeah.” Natasha breathes, “I accept.”

Pepper grins, hugging Natasha tightly, then rushes off with a gaggle of PAs following behind.

Natasha envies Pepper now more than ever because there’s no way she’s going to be able to move that fast any time soon. Not after the double whammy of winning a match against the Avengers and then getting the offer to _join_ them.

Someone hits her back. Hard. It knocks enough wherewithal into her to know to expect Jess when she turns around.

"Hell of a show you guys put on, Romanoff," she unexpectedly turns to acknowledge the rest of Delta, who are finally filing backstage, "Romanoff's team,"

"Jones..." Natasha tenses up,

Then she hears Coulson laughing behind her and Steve is trying to hide a smile behind his hand,

"It's true enough," Steve shrugs,

Natasha has no clue what to do with that. So she blinks at Jess, who's grinning at her.

"Go enjoy your party, red," Jess laughs, pushing Natasha off towards the rest of Delta, "Looks like you could use a stiff drink."

* * *

Phil allows them to raid the mini-bar in his room. Tony sends them expensive champagne (they definitely look up the price on the internet) and they drink it out of the mugs. Tony has good taste in alcohol but he tends to overlook the practicalities.

There are several rounds of toasts and by the end, the champagne bottle is significantly lighter and Natasha is floating pleasantly.

It's an effort to focus when Clint approaches her and Wanda where they're camped out on the loveseat.

"Nah," Wanda is saying, "But have fun without me," she smiles sweetly,

Natasha wants to spend more time puzzling over Wanda’s expression but Clint is still staring at her insistently,

"Movie night?" she guesses,

"Being in a fancy hotel with pay-per-view seems like as good a reason as any."

"You'd be missing your own party," Natasha's lips are already inching into a smile,

"If you think old man Rogers is the life of the party around here... I'm honestly worried about you."

"I heard that!" Steve yells from across the room,

She snorts, grabbing the rest of her champagne. When she reaches out, Clint is already pulling her up and into a room down the hall.

She laughs to herself when she sees that, even here, the pair of them have made a nest out of all of their blankets and pillows. James smiles when he hears her.

For a perilous moment, when his eyes light up meeting hers, she thinks it's all she ever wants to see.

Which is maybe why she throws herself down on the pile.

It could also be the alcohol still buzzing in her veins.

James seems to understand, though, clinking his mini-bar bottle of vodka with her glass as she lands with her head next to his hip. Clint starts the movie and crowds in on the blanket pile. It's apparently smaller than usual because Natasha's head is under threat of being squished between Clint's ass and James' thigh- and what a way to go _that_ would be- until she shifts, ending up with her head in James' lap and the rest of her laying across Clint's outstretched legs.

The movie plays, flashing colors across the dark room. James' hand migrates into her hair, the metal of it cool against her alcohol-heated skin. Clint leans over onto James' shoulder, his hand falling onto her hip at the same time.

Her blood _sings_.

It feels like a circuit is connected the second all three of them touch.

Yesterday she would have been able to quash it down. Ignore it. She would have _had_ to.

Today, she's buzzing with leftover adrenaline and alcohol. And the knowledge that she's free from the possibility of compromising the team, the offer from the Avengers buoying her.

Tonight, she arches into James' hand and makes a noise that might be a whine, but she'll never admit to it.

James laughs, low and soft, and Natasha would be absolutely furious at him if he wasn't already leaning down and his hair falls like a curtain around them until his breath is tangible on her lips, sending jolts down her spine. His gaze flicks over her face, looking for permission or taking in the deep flush of her face, she doesn't know. And she doesn't have the patience to figure it out.

She leans up, connecting their lips.

It's just a touch, at first. Smooth, soft lips against hers.

Then James tightens his grip on her hair, pulling her closer. Her mouth opens in a sigh and the first touch of his tongue against hers pulls a moan from her.

Or maybe from Clint, whose hand is tight on her hip, nails biting into the sensitive skin there.

James, pulls away, pupils blown wide and looks wide-eyed at Clint. She watches James sway indecisively between her and Clint,

"Do you want to kiss him or should I?" Natasha half-whispers to James,

And that's _definitely_ Clint's groan.

Bucky grins at her like a promise. It makes her insides _shiver_.

He straightens up, sliding his hand up Clint's neck until he can tilt Clint's head back and kiss him deeply, all tongues and teeth and claiming.

Natasha, cradled in their two laps, has a great view of this. Maybe too good, because the lightning burning heat in her veins is pooling lower. Pulsing there. She wriggles, trying to find purchase, trying to get a better view, trying to—

James' hand tightens in her hair, pulling again, and she didn’t process he'd never stopped touching her, carding his hand through her hair. Clint's hand is still there as well, though it's slid around to cover her side and her stomach, its warmth mingling with the fire already inside her lower belly.

Natasha sits up as soon as they separate for air, insinuating herself between James and Clint. She surges forward towards Clint, catching more teeth than anything else. But Clint still leans into it, biting teasingly at her lower lip until she laughs, bright and head tilting back onto James' shoulder. Clint growls, leaning forward to kiss and bite at her neck. Natasha sighs and leans further onto James, arches into Clint. Clint whines again, feeling her breasts press against him.

"So needy," James says, tutting,

He moves Natasha's head off his shoulder, tugging Clint's head into place at the same time, pushing them together.

He thinks he hears one of them accuse him of being 'bossy' amidst the slide of tongues and teeth.

James rolls his eyes at them. Gets his hands under Natasha's shirt, making her shiver between them. He skims both hands over her breasts and she gasps into Clint's mouth. Suddenly Bucky has a pressing need for there to be less clothes between them.

Shirts are easy enough, once he can get Clint and Nat on the same page with him. Pants and bras, apparently, require much more coordination.

Then they're all skin to skin. Hot and cold in turns and everything just... snowballs from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ha hahahahahahha I chickened out of writing real smut again 🙃 BUT I got you a dumb e-sports pun/joke as an apology 🙃
> 
> Edit1: you might notice that this work is part of a series now! I promise I'm actually working on the second part of this series and you can trust me because I've got a lot of feels about the US women's soccer team right now!!
> 
> Edit2: I forgot I had a second series to add this to! The second work in the "increasingly niche AUs" series is going to be about... pro-wrestling!!! I hope it will be accessible to people who don't follow/know about pro-wrestling, especially now that I know I can basically add footnotes from the start this time!


	9. Essayons encore une fois.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and the boys have to deal with the Avengers Academy tournament. Also there's a fancy dinner because Tony thinks he's a fancy motherfucker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I was remiss in not crediting CloudAtlas for my ~~stealing~~ borrowing their nicknaming Vision “Viz” in their suuuuper super super good series which is also Clint/Bucky/Nat!!
> 
> Sorry this update took so long! buuut this is technically twice the length of my normal chapters? soooo

Natasha wakes slowly, awareness coming back to her in pieces. These sheets aren't hers, this bed is far too big. There's tight pain in her neck from sleeping in an odd position.

And there's bodies.

Warm, and pressing her between them in a sandwiched embrace that would have been way too hot if they were anywhere else besides an over air-conditioned hotel room.

Hotel room. Natasha shudders as she remembers the tournament, the night before. She tries to sit up.

They're all too tangled together for her to have any hope of moving— let alone _leaving_ — without waking them both up.

Clint tries to shuffle closer to James, but only succeeds in crushing Natasha slightly. He makes a displeased sleep sound that's entirely too adorable but also she's having a tough time breathing,

"Ow," she says into James' shoulder.

When neither of them move, she remembers that Clint had taken his aids out to sleep.

She begins trying to pry herself out,

"Ow," James says, " _Ow,_ Jesus,"

Natasha feels part of the solid warmth give way as James pulls his arm out from under her head. And based on the groan Clint makes, from under his head, as well.

"Jesus, you two are trying to take my good arm, too," he says, shaking his arm vigorously to try and clear the pins and needles,

"Mmmm... they're both pretty good if memory serves," Natasha grins,

"Hey, you two better not be flirting where I can't hear you," Clint grumbles,

'Never' Natasha signs to him,

Clint grins up at her, so wide and soft, Natasha physically feels her heart melt. It _hurts_.

"Ah, now you two are flirting while I'm unarmed," James sighs, "Unfair."

"Was that a _pun_ , Barnes?"

Natasha turns on him, equal parts amusement and disbelief in her smile. He grins back, unrepentant.

Which leaves them all smiling at each other like lovesick fools.

Natasha is almost glad when a knock at the door makes her and James jump and stop getting lost in each other's eyes,

"I hope you're up by now. The academy tournament starts in ten minutes," Coulson calls through the door.

Natasha curses under her breath. Knowing that it absolutely won't go unnoticed by Pepper _or_ Jess if she's wearing yesterday's clothes.

"We'll be there, Phil," Bucky calls back,

There's a silence so profound that Natasha swears she can hear Phil's eyebrow arching,

"Well if you see Natasha, tell her, too," Phil says before moving on, "She isn't answering her door,"

Natasha sighs. Having three of them- she's a bit hesitant to call it a relationship yet- discovered by their boss on the morning after isn't exactly ideal.

Bucky swears a streak, falling heavily back on the bed. He throws his arm over his face, which is flaming red now,

"What'd he do?" Clint asks, frowning,

'Mistake told Phil' Natasha answers,

"Ah, shit. Lemme put my aids in,"

Natasha finds a shirt to throw on and pulls her knee up to her chest.

She smiles to herself when she realizes she can tell it's James' by smell alone.

"Alright," Clint says, pulling his hands away from adjusting the hearing aids, "Let's have the talk."

James groans, pressing his arm harder against his face.

Natasha looks wide-eyed at Clint,

"Alright, I'll be the adult somehow," Clint says, "I want to date both of you. I also want it on the record that I would've wanted to before I knew for sure we'd have some mind-blowing sex."

He looks pointedly at Bucky, who's still trying to ostrich his way out of this scenario. Clint throws a pillow at the other man's head when he doesn't respond to being glared at,

"You're making the lady who we both like very much nervous, jerk,"

Bucky sits up with an audible groan. He darts a look at her and Natasha hopes she's schooled her face into a more neutral expression. Bucky's grimace tells her she hasn't succeeded.

"I'm sorry. I just... didn't want anyone to find out before we'd had more time together. More time to figure this out before we had to put a label on it for anyone else. I didn't want it to feel like we were pressuring you," James says,

Not rushed, but fierce. Sure. Like he's definitely thought about this before.

Natasha breathes out,

"Wait. You two have been talking about me behind my back?" she grins,

"Stop deflecting. If you only wanted to sleep with us, it's fine. We can live with it," Clint says,

His gaze is sharp but there's no anger behind it.

Natasha's gut bubbles and churns. They'd talked about this. About what their relationship would mean with or without her. When the feeling in her stomach settles, the feeling is tight and warm, low in her ribcage. _Proud_. Not even that she'd called it ages ago- that's a slight factor- but that she'd somehow managed to get them together despite getting in the middle of it.

Okay, maybe that's actually smugness.

"If you need more time to think, that's okay," James adds,

She doesn't. She knows- has known for weeks now- that this is also what she wants. She just never thought she'd get it. Especially not with both of them. And somehow everything has fallen into place on this trip.

"I have an offer from the Avengers." she blurts out,

They both stare at her, open-mouthed, clearly shocked into silence,

“Nat, oh my god,” James says,

“ _Timing_ , Tasha, holy shit,” Clint agrees.

And this feels right. Them each having half of her. Together, all three making a whole.

But she’s getting lost in her own head, she smiles apologetically, “I mean I—“

"Hey! Get a move on, you two, the academy tournament is about to start!" Wanda knocks on their door insistently,

Natasha curses, pulling on the rest of her clothes in a flurry, “Terrible timing, Wanda,” she hisses, rushing out the door.

James and Clint are left frozen in her wake.

* * *

The entire second day is devoted to the younger players in what Tony is calling “the Avengers Academy”.

Yesterday Natasha was looking forward to this. Seeing developing talent and getting to watch what’s sure to be some fun games of Overwatch is basically a free day off.

But today, she's stuck in conversation limbo with James and Clint. She'd somehow managed to tell them about the Avengers offer at exactly the wrong time. She’d thought they would be more receptive and with no chance to really talk about it, all she can do is sit behind them and worry at how rigidly they're sitting, heads not even close to straying from staring straight forward. Definitely not going so far as to look back at her.

**JJ:** Nice shirt.  
**JJ:** I haven't seen it before have I?  
**JJ:** … I mean certainly not on you.  
**JJ:** 😏 

Natasha sits bolt upright in her seat. She plays back the morning in her head and quickly comes to the conclusion that after pulling James’ shirt on earlier, she’d never changed _back into her shirt_. Blinking at her own absent-mindedness, she pulls at the hem of the shirt. And it’s definitely still James’.

**pepper:** 👀  
**RVGR_Valkyrie:** 👀  
**wingdings:** 👀  
**JJ:** 😇  
**not_hawkguy:** damn, I just asked and there's no popcorn for backstage  
**shuuuUuuUuuri:** damn, i was just gonna ask you to share!!! 🍿  
**Witch_Wanda:** 👀👀  


Natasha grimaces. She'd forgotten that Wanda is in this chat, also. Not that she thinks Jess was trying to out her, or anything… Jess is just a huge gossip.

Her attention is pulled back to the tournament when the Jersey City team- led by Kamala Khan aka MsMarvel, playing a ruthless Doomfist- makes a play that has the announce team yelling into their headphones.

It sounds like Carol is having a hell of a good time calling her young protegee's match.

**pepper:** I'd get some for you but I'm going to pressure @DELTA_w1dow to tell us what Jess is on about instead.  
**DELTA_w1dow:** ugh  
**DELTA_w1dow:** this is bullying  
**JJ:** And that's a deflection 🔍  
**DELTA_w1dow:** FINE  
**DELTA_w1dow:** i slept with james and clint last night and they said they both wanted to date me and then i kinda accidentally said i had an offer from the avengers and then we had to leave to come here  
**DELTA_w1dow:** tl;dr i fucked up  


Natasha takes a deep breath after that. Even though she didn't have to say it out loud, it still feels like she needs to _breathe_.

**not_hawkguy:** woooOOOOOOOWWWW  
**shuuuUuuUuuri:**   
**pepper:** Very regretting not having any popcorn, now.  
**JJ:** 😳💦👌 🙆♀️👍  
**RVGR_Valkyrie:** grats grats grats  
**RVGR_Valkyrie:** (that’s 3 for the 3some)  
**HELLCAT:**   
**HellaLoki:** Finally, some good gossip in here.  
**HellaLoki:** I don’t know if I should congratulate you or threaten you for taking Clint off the market.  
**Hela:** WHY IS THAT STILL YOUR SCREENNAME  
**Hela:** I TOLD YOU TO CHANGE IT  


Kate's team, the Young Avengers, is on stage now. Kate is fidgeting with the handwarmers nonstop. Natasha thinks she must be nervous. Before Kate locks eyes with her and _glares_.

It can't be Kate's mad at her for sleeping with Clint. They both mutually agree that he's a walking disaster. And Kate is super gay for America.

**shuuuUuuUuuri:** omg Kate looks sooooo pissed XD  
**shuuuUuuUuuri:** she’s probably _dying_ right now missing out on this hot goss  
**_wasp:** congrats, Nat!  
**_wasp:** wait.. catching up on backscroll..  
**_wasp:**   


Natasha briefly considers starting a new life to escape this airing of her personal business. She's sure taking on a new name, a new identity, wouldn't be all that hard for her.

The cheer from the crowd almost scares Natasha out of her seat, they’re so loud.

"And that was officially the fastest victory in an Academy series! Congratulations, Young Avengers!" Carol is saying from the commentator's area,

As soon as the team is backstage, Natasha's phone pings.

**not_hawkguy:** OMG  
**not_hawkguy:** I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAD TO SIT ON SUCH HOT GOSS FOR THAT WHOLE DUMB GAME  
**RVGR_Valkyrie:** grats btw, Kate  
**shuuuUuuUuuri:** 😂🤣😂  
**DELTA_w1dow:** i think I get an assist for that win  
**DELTA_w1dow:** put that on my record, pep  
**pepper:** Noted.  
**not_hawkguy:** so are we gonna DISH about this or what??? @miss.america  


Natasha stares at the "several people are typing" status. She sighs and decides she officially needs a drink. Braving a chatroom gossiping about her and James and Clint when she can see how upset they are right in front of her is a bit too much for her, right now.

She tries not to stare holes in the back of Clint and James' heads, willing them to turn around so they can sort this out _now_.

Which is really way easier said than done. There are only three matches left, but Natasha finds she can't concentrate on any of them. Every time the crowd cheers, she looks to see if either of them have reacted. She's not sure if she's disappointed or relieved when they aren't. Seemingly as unable to focus on the action as she is.

Natasha has to suppress a sigh of relief when the final match comes to a close.

She's already moving towards them when Wanda pops up next to her,

"Hey, you were gonna help me get ready for the banquet, remember? You're not allowed to forget about me just because you have the boys now,"

Natasha blinks. She'd completely forgotten about the banquet Stark is throwing for all the players from both tournaments. She darts a look at Clint and James, who are very pointedly _not_ staring at her right now, in a way that makes it obvious they definitely just _were_. But Wanda is right. It would be completely shitty of her to abandon her friend when she’d promised she’d help Wanda out.

"Ah... I did completely forget about the dinner. Sorry, Wanda," she says, focusing back on Wanda,

"Just make it up to me by helping me knock Viz's socks off tonight,"

"I can do that," Natasha grins sharply.

* * *

Natasha spends most of their prep time doing Wanda's hair and makeup to perfection. 

It's a skill she's barely used after leaving college, but Wanda is extraordinarily pleased with the results, so Natasha is satisfied.

She barely has enough time to change into the silk shirt and suit blazer as Wanda is anxious to see Viz.

Natasha's just finishing tying her hair back as they enter the banquet hall together. The hall is large, filled mostly with tables for food, but also what look like a few side rooms. And plenty of gamers who look entirely uncomfortable being in such formal clothes.

Pepper is easy to spot, not that outside of her usual attire and looking intimidating in a white pantsuit and red blouse- the colors of her team. But everyone else... Well, it's a large departure from their team uniforms.

So much so that she almost doesn't recognize Clint and James talking with Thor. Thor is easy to spot, still being _giant_ , but his elaborate braided up-do makes him truly stand out. It puts anything Natasha can do with hair to shame. But even Thor's award-winning hair couldn't distract her long from her... potential boyfriends? Partners? For too long.

Clint and James are both wearing suits that would be more fit for a Bond movie than a fancy dinner with a bunch of gamers. Clint's hair is combed for once and that somehow makes his ever present scruff of stubble look even better. Bucky's hair is half pulled back, the top forming a bun and the lower half left loose to brush along the line of his chin.

Natasha feels like the room gets noticeably hotter the longer she stares at them. She just might have to admit how _fucked_ she is for them.

They orbit around each other, a safe distance always between them. Never far enough away to make it feel like a rejection, but never moving closer, either. Careful, considered.

Natasha now knows what Wanda meant when she called it a dance.

Kate's disgusted "UGH!" rings through the relatively sedate party. As she's storming off, face in her phone and America trailing behind, Natasha realizes that she might be in trouble.

Though the magnitude isn't made clear until Loki and Hela appear on either side of her. They're wearing matching floor-length gowns with plunging necklines. Loki’s is emerald and Hela’s is black, but both are trimmed in gold. The matching outfits make the family resemblance much more apparent. Loki's hair is in a similar style to Thor's, while Hela's is pulled back severely in a high ponytail,

"Did Thor do your hair?" Natasha asks,

Loki scoffs around the weird bacon and fruit wrap they’ve lifted from her plate,

"I did both of ours, of course,"

"We were deemed the only ones intimidating enough to coerce you into coming with us," Hela reports, looking at her nails,

"Hm," Natasha says,

Hela briefly interrupts her careful examination to give her a crooked grin. Natasha sighs, shrugging in agreement. She hands the plate to Loki and follows Hela.

Natasha comes in on one end of the room at the same moment Clint and James are shoved through the other.

"Kate got tired of us," Clint says, once he recovers his footing,

Natasha nods, snickering. James raises an eyebrow at the both of them,

"I'm gonna pretend that makes sense?" he says,

"I need to explain this morning," Natasha swallows around her nerves, "I took the offer from the Avengers because I thought it would be better for the team,"

She takes a breath, bracing herself, "No chance of favoritism or... getting too distracted. I assumed we were all on the same page."

James and Clint share a long look. One that's still indecipherable to Natasha. Her breath catches thinking that it's possible it will _stay that way_.

"We had a bit of a talk during the tournament," James says when their silent conversation has ended, "We- the two of us- have had feelings for each other longer than not,"

Clint nods,

"It's never gotten in the way of our games. Unresolved tension or not. We think we're better for it. We play better,"

"We'll understand if you still take the offer but... we really want you to stick around," Clint adds, "The Avengers probably deserve you more but... trust us?"

And the vulnerability in Clint's eyes, the waver in his voice... She wants to reach out and take his hand even though he hasn't physically held it out to her.

"Plus," James jumps in when she's unable to answer them, "do you really want to live with Stark full time?"

Natasha can't help but laugh, "I would _hate_ living with Stark,"

"That sounds like a yes. Please say that's a yes,"

Clint is stepping towards her,

"I'll e-mail Pepper right now. I'll go find her and tell her toni—"

She can't finish before Clint and James are shouting and lifting her off the ground, hugging her tightly, pressing kisses into her hair and attempting to take turns kissing _her_ while she tries to stop smiling long enough to kiss them back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ┏┓  
> ┃┃╱╲ In this  
> ┃╱╱╲╲ house  
> ╱╱╭╮╲╲ we love  
> ▔▏┗┛▕▔ & appreciate  
> ╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲  
> genderqueer Loki!!!  
> ╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲  
> ▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔ 
> 
> Footnotes:
> 
>   * academy tournament: it's different from e-sport to e-sport but most sub-pro-level or like high school and college age divisions are called "academy" leagues. Also a lot of these teams adopt the name of their parent team + academy (e.g. "Cloud 9 Academy" would be the team the organization "Cloud 9" owns but in the academy division/ranking)
> 



	10. Et voilà.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We made it to the end!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAaAaAAAAahahaha
> 
> Just kidding I have a second chapter for you tonight!!! (which is like 3 whole chapters!!!)
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I had to get this published before Blizz pushes the change that locks players into one champ for the whole match 🙃🙃~~

"What? You can't just not accept my not accepting your offer."

Natasha is already glaring at the video of their skype call after two whole seconds of talking to Stark. She’d e-mailed Tony and Pepper at the end of the party to let them know she couldn’t accept the Avengers’ offer right now. Pepper had e-mailed back an hour later saying that they should schedule a call the following morning followed by a winking emoji. So now Delta is on a video call with Tony and Pepper.

"Sure I can!" Tony replies back, smiling even wider,

"You really can't," Pepper appears, cutting in both metaphorically and physically, "But we have a counter offer we think will be amenable to both sides,"

"Shoot," Clint winks at her from off camera before Bucky pushes him over,

"We want to play an exhibition match. Winner takes all—" Pepper continues, expertly ignoring Clint,

"Specifically, they take Natasha, though!" Tony interjects,

"Well hold on just—" Steve says at the same time Natasha scoffs, "I can decide for myself—" at the same time Phil says,

"We'll do it," with enough conviction to make the rest of them shut up.

"It'll be great publicity when we play circles around you and prove we deserve to have the Black Widow on our team," Phil smiles a sharp, predator smile.

Natasha grins the same smile back. Behind them, Sam and Clint are cackling in delight.

"Glad you agree," Pepper replies, smiling a bit too primly,

Natasha wonders how long the two of them have had that planned.

"See you in a week, Delta!" Tony pokes his head back into the frame to wave before hanging up.

* * *

As soon as their stream goes live, the viewer numbers skyrocket. Natasha can almost see Phil salivating over their soaring subs count from across the room..

Messages are whizzing past with subscriber emojis from either Delta or the Avengers. Clint signs something into the camera at his computer and their chat briefly becomes a wall of rainbow hearts and the pride version of the Delta logo.

"Alright party people, we all know why we're here so let's just get down to it: best 2 out of 3. Winners take all, no takesies backsies, et cetera," Tony smirks at his camera,

Steve rolls his eyes.

"Good luck!" Pepper cheers from somewhere off-camera.

Natasha knows her friend truly means it for both teams, too.

The tournament lobby is created and when the loading screen pops up, all the nerves Natasha expects to feel are nowhere to be found. It's the feeling of knowing her team has her back no matter what.

The rest of the team is silent. And staring at her. Waiting for her to call their play this time.

"Let's try a 1-4-1 comp to start. See if we can just burn them out right away." she says slowly,

Delta grins back at her,

Natasha flits back and forth between Sombra and Tracer before settling for Widowmaker seconds before the gate drops,

"Wh— Hey!" Bucky also on Widowmaker, cries, 

Natasha winks in reply. Then races off ahead of him to get to the superior sniper spot in this map. Clint is cackling at them so loudly they can hear him echoed in discord and real life despite the thick padding of their headsets.

Natasha scores a headshot for herself and an assist for Wanda and Sam before Hope's Pharah forces her to retreat.

She comes back as Sombra, hearing James sigh in relief. All she has to do is hack a few of Tony's turrets,

"NOT DUM-E, YOU MONSTER" he yells,

And he appears right where she wants him. Bucky couldn't have gotten the kill faster even if she'd had the time to tell him to be ready. The swell of pride she feels almost stops her from seeing the Winston ult flying at her. Luckily,her gamer reflexes just barely save her. And then Sam and Steve are covering her, protecting her from McCoy, who's suddenly in their back line thanks to his ult.

Natasha stealths off in the confusion of the rest of the Avengers trying to follow him into Delta's back line. And with the Avengers conveniently down a tank, she eliminates Vision and Stark (again), and easily pushes the map's central capture point to 100% with Clint's help.

They high-five as the victory screen plays.

"Escort up next," Steve says when the map appears,

"I was hoping for deathmatch," Natasha sighs, a dark light in her eyes,

"We've got a good escort comp. This is a safer win," Steve says,

"You never think of my poor my K/D/A?" Clint pouts,

"Ladies first, Barton," Bucky smirks at him,

Clint pouts even harder at Bucky, who seems unmoved, besides the fact that he starts snickering at his boyfriend's face.

In game, Bucky picks Symmetra and Natasha, Zarya.

"I've never seen you play her," Clint says, eyeing Bucky,

Bucky shrugs one shoulder, "I can learn new things."

"That's why you were talking to Misty the other day?" Wanda asks,

"Wanda!" he frowns, "Now no one is going to compliment me, they're going to say it was all Misty!"

"Well it is," she shrugs as Bucky claps his hand over his chest in mock-woundedness,

Once the gates drop, the two teams skirmish over the starting point of the cart, pulling it back and forth, but without any real progress.

Until Bucky gets the Symmetra barrier up, cutting off most of Tony's turrets. He sets up a trap with his own turrets and Natasha gathers up most of the Avengers in Zarya's ult as they try to get past the barrier while slowed by the Symmetra turrets. The rest of the team can push the payload forward and into their checkpoint.

“That was _rude_ ,” Scott says,

“Yeah, I move to veto that wombo in future,” Viz adds,

Natasha and Bucky high five, smirking.

This position is slightly less defensible than the first, but they have enough time for Clint and Bucky to agree on the best sniper position and then for Wanda and Bucky to set up another trap using Symmetra's turrets and Moira's more aggressive attacks. Natasha and Steve funnel the Avengers into Delta's trap and they cart moves along to their next checkpoint.

The last checkpoint before the game-winning one is the hardest to defend,

"Let's do an assault," Natasha says, looking away from her screen to gauge her team's reaction,

"Bold move," Sam says,,

"They won't be expecting it," Steve nods "Alright. Let's see if it pays off."

Natasha, Sam and Steve go forward first with Wanda close behind. Bucky and Clint are only lagging behind by the amount of time it takes Bucky to switch onto Reaper. Tony is out of position, setting up his turrets out of range of his tank. Hope and Scott are quick to converge on Tony, though. Probably to their own detriment, since three against six isn't known as good odds.

“Can we get a do-over on that one?” Tony snarks, “That was pretty embarrassing for us,”

“Why did you follow me?!” Hope snaps at Scott, probably forgetting they’re in the shared chat,

“I thought you were following me!” Scott replies,

The rest of the Avengers realize this is probably their last chance– they can either play the rest of this skirmish or retreat and risk losing while they're waiting for their teammates to respawn.

They choose to fight. With more warning, they can put up more of a fight. The Avengers take out Sam and James. Natasha steps in front of a shot meant for Clint. Their last DPS is necessary for this play to work.

Clint, Steve and Wanda come to the same conclusion at the same time. Clint and Wanda fire off their ults. Steve stands his ground, running interference for Clint's retreat to the cart.

The cart is slow with only one person pushing, but Steve and Wanda are more than enough of a nuisance to distract the Avengers from realizing the payload is moving again.

By the time Tony, Hope and Scott are reviving and rushing towards the payload, Clint and the cart are within spitting distance of victory.

"Wanda," Steve says,

That's all Wanda needs to speed back to Clint to help push the payload while Steve plays roadblock to the rest of the Avengers.

Just as Steve bites it, the rest of Delta comes back. They rush the payload, speeding it along to the final point. Natasha goes past them, keeping the Avengers from rushing into the team and stopping all progress.

It's just enough time for the cart to roll home.

Natasha barely has time to get out of her chair before the rest of her team is piling onto her. She has no idea how she manages to stay upright with all of them alternatively clinging to her or jumping up and down in the middle of the group hug.

Wanda and Sam are screaming in her ears. Bucky is simultaneously doing his best to haul her onto his shoulders while making sure Steve doesn't get crushed in the excitement.

James finally manages to signal Clint, across the cluster from him, and together they hoist Natasha onto their shoulders. Sam joins in and the three of them parade Natasha around the apartment.

Phil is shutting down the stream when the short parade concludes. He's half smiling the way he does when he's amused by their general childish-ness but doesn't want to encourage their ridiculousness.

"Well, Widow... welcome to Strike Team Delta," he says, breaking into a full smile now,

Delta is thrown into hysterics again, cheering wildly from below her. Sam, Clint and James start another lap around the apartment. Wanda and Steve make confetti to throw around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'alll! We made it to the end!! This is my first fic I started publishing before it was done being written and... I actually finished it???
> 
> Thank you all for coming on this ridiculously niche ride with me!! I hope one day my fics will learn how to gain mass appeal but uhhhh.... honestly, it might only be getting worse from now on 🙃
> 
> Next up is my world cup inspired (and by "world cup inspired" I mean [specifically this moment](https://media.giphy.com/media/XGJY5KLuazndauTfZP/giphy.gif)) fic still in this e-sports universe, so sub to that series if you're interested!
> 
> Footnotes:
> 
>   * Symmetra ult: Symmetra’s ult is a map-wide barrier that blocks all projectiles from going through it… so I figure that would make the other teams want to try and move forward through it/past it 
>   * K/D/A: initialism for "kills/deaths/assists". It's sort of an old school stat/rough heuristic for how well you're doing in the game. The higher your kills to deaths, the better you're doing. 
>   * DPS: stands for "damage per second". When referring to a role, like this is, it means the person whose role it is to do damage. 
> 


**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author replies to comments.
> 
> PS: If you don’t want a reply, for any reason (social anxiety is a real bitch), feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it from afar and not respond :)
> 
> PPS: you can always lurk on my tumblr, too: closetedboggart.tumblr.com


End file.
